Jay Ambe Supermarkets Limited

Consumer Defensive — Discount Stores · BSE

₹105.25+₹5.00 (+4.99%)

DalalBaazaar Score

67 / 100

🟢 Good

Verdict

REASONABLE

Risk

High

Driven by negative free cash flow, micro-cap size, which brings thin liquidity.

In simple words: Strong business and financial position, with both sales and profits growing well. Cash generation is currently the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 7:03 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

The 60-second version of Jay Ambe Supermarkets Limited — what it does, how it earns, and who it competes with, before any of the numbers below.

What does this company do?

Jay Ambe Supermarkets Limited engages in the retail supermarkets trading activities in India. It offers fast-moving consumer goods, groceries, home textiles, home decor, apparel, footwear, toys, and other household items through its retail stores under the City Square Mart brand.

IndustryDiscount Stores

SectorConsumer Defensive

Employees177

Annual revenue₹71 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹71 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹7 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹15 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 177 employees supports ₹40.4 lakh of revenue a year, the signature of a people-led business.

Revenue / employee₹40.4 lakh

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are AVENUE SUPERMARTS LIMITED, TRENT LTD, TITAN COMPANY LIMITED. These are the companies its valuation and returns are measured against elsewhere in this report.

Compared side by side in Peers ↓

What is its competitive advantage?Some evidence

ROCE of 18.8% is above what capital typically costs, which suggests some pricing power, though not yet the sustained, wide gap that marks a durable advantage.

Peer median ROE25.9%

What has been driving growth?

Profit has moved mainly because margins changed, not because the business sold much more. Over 3 years revenue moved +121% while net margin moved +525% relative to itself. What this cannot tell you is which products, customers or geographies did the work — that lives in the segment disclosures of the annual report.

Revenue effect+121%

Margin effect+525%

DalalBaazaar Score

67/ 100

Good

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Micro Cap: thinner liquidity and sharper drawdowns are normal
✗ Profits have swung sharply from year to year — earnings are hard to forecast
✗ Negative free cash flow means dependence on external funding

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

72/ 100

Good

How good the business is, ignoring the share price entirely.

Valuation

77/ 100

Cheap

What you are being asked to pay, ignoring how good the business is.

A good business currently available at an undemanding price — the combination this framework is built to look for.

Historical Valuation

Current P/E

16.8x

1.3Y Median

42.4x

15 monthly readings · mean 46.7x · range 33.6x–64.5x

Sector Median

69.9x

median of 3 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 60% below its 1.3y median of 42.4x. Cheaper than its own history, which is worth a reason too: the market may be pricing in something the backward-looking numbers do not show.

🟢Against its sector it trades 76% below the peer median of 69.9x.

vs. its own history

Cheap

42.4x median over 15 months · -60%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

69.9x median of 3 peers · -76%

vs. generic bands

Fair

15x–35x

EV/EBITDA

10.6x

PEG

0.12

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well2

Margins are improving
EBITDA margin is up from 2.9% to 14.5% over 3 years.
Consistently profitable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years.

🔴 What Needs Attention0

Nothing stands out as clearly deteriorating on the years of data available.

Red Flags

4 items require attention · 3 high · 1 watch

🔴Debt has risen sharplyFinancial
Total debt is up 149% over 3 years, from ₹7 Cr to ₹19 Cr.
🔴Free cash flow negative for 4 yearsFinancial
The business has not covered its capital spending from operations for several years running, which has to be funded externally.
🔴Receivables growing faster than salesFinancial
Receivables up 1389% against revenue up 121% — sales are being booked faster than they are collected.
🟡Inventory building faster than salesFinancial
Inventory up 162% against revenue up 121% — stock may not be moving.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Capital compounds at a high rate
ROCE of 18.8% means each rupee reinvested earns well above what capital costs. If the company can keep deploying at this rate, growth creates value rather than just consuming cash.
Margin expansion has further to run
EBITDA margin has risen from 2.9% to 14.5%. If that holds, profit compounds faster than sales and today's multiple looks cheaper in hindsight than it does now.
Priced below its own history
The stock trades 60% below its own median multiple. If the business performs as it has and simply re-rates back to normal, that gap is return on its own.
Cheaper than its peers
It trades 76% below the sector median. Either the market sees a problem the numbers do not show, or the discount closes.
Earnings have proved durable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years. Consistency lowers the risk that any single bad year is structural rather than cyclical.

🔴 Bear CaseWhat could go wrong?

Sales are being booked faster than collected
Receivables are up 1389% against revenue up 121%. If customers keep taking longer to pay, reported profit will not turn into cash — and write-offs follow if some never do.
Earnings are hard to forecast
Profit has swung sharply from year to year, so any single year — good or bad — is a weak guide to the next. Cyclical earnings deserve lower multiples for that reason.
Size brings its own risk
Micro Cap businesses are thinly traded, so exits are harder in a falling market and single events move the price more than they would for a larger company.
Several serious flags at once
3 high-severity checks triggered. Individually each has an explanation; together they raise the chance that something structural is wrong rather than a one-off.

🟡 Key Things to WatchMeasurable tripwires, set against where this company stands today

1Revenue growth stays above 23% a year✓ 30.2% CAGR
Latest reported year was 40.5%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
2EBITDA margin holds above 13%✓ 14.5%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
3Free cash flow remains positive✗ -₹15 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✓ 1.8x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
5ROCE stays above 16%✓ 18.8%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

8 / 11 checks passed

✓ Strong return on equity (ROE ≥ 15%)
✓ Strong return on capital employed (ROCE ≥ 15%)
✗ Healthy net margin (≥ 10%)
✗ Generates positive free cash flow
✓ Manageable leverage (Debt/Equity < 1.0)
✓ Adequate short-term liquidity (Current Ratio ≥ 1.0)
✓ Revenue growing year-over-year
✓ Profit growing year-over-year
✓ Not trading at an extreme valuation (P/E < 40x)
✓ Not buying right at the 52-week high
✗ Short-term technical trend isn't bearish

Price history

Quick Metrics

6 good · 4 neutral · 1 weak

Market Cap

₹93 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

16.8x

Fair

Fairly valued against the generic band

P/B Ratio

2.71x

Fair

Moderate premium to the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹6.25

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

20.3%

Strong

Strong capital efficiency

ROCE

18.8%

Strong

Earns comfortably above its likely cost of capital

Debt/Equity

0.54x

Low

Conservative leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

40.5%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

65.5%

Healthy

Profits growing at a healthy clip

Dividend Yield

None

No dividend yield reported — usually means no payout, but verify if one was recently initiated

Free Cash Flow

-₹24 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

ROA

12.0%

Good

Assets are working hard

Operating Margin

13.9%

Average

Average margins

Net Margin

6.8%

Average

Average bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

2.47

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

52W Range Position

Near low

Near its 52-week low

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

125.1 / 128.4

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

14.4

Oversold zone

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹32 Cr	₹33 Cr	₹47 Cr	₹71 Cr	+30.2%
EBITDA	₹1 Cr	₹3 Cr	₹5 Cr	₹10 Cr	+122.7%
EBITDA Margin	2.9%	9.3%	10.3%	14.5%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹0 Cr	₹2 Cr	₹3 Cr	₹5 Cr	+139.9%
EPS	₹0.4	₹1.74	₹3.1	—	—
ROE	11.4%	20.5%	20.3%	14.1%	—
ROCE	20.5%	34.5%	32.4%	18.8%	—
Total Debt	₹7 Cr	₹9 Cr	₹9 Cr	₹19 Cr	+35.5%
Free Cash Flow	-₹4 Cr	-₹2 Cr	-₹4 Cr	-₹15 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 30.2% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 122.7% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA Margin has risen from 2.9% to 14.5% over 3 years (+11.6 pts).

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 139.9% a year over 3 years.

🟢 ROE has risen from 11.4% to 14.1% over 3 years (+2.7 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 20.5% to 18.8% over 3 years (-1.6 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 35.5% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹58 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹24 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹2 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹3 Cr

Capex

-₹18 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

89.7%

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
AVENUE SUPERMARTS LIMITED	69.9x	12.7%
TRENT LTD	87.2x	25.9%
TITAN COMPANY LIMITED	68.5x	36.7%

Recent News

6 general

JAY AMBE SUPERMARKETS Lower Circuit Streak: Day 2 Price and Data

Univest, 12 Oct

Jay Ambe Supermarkets (BSE: 544514): US Arm, Penalty and AGM

Kalkine India, 06 Oct

Jay Ambe Supermarkets Ltd Key Financial Ratios – Valuation, Profitability & More

Value Research, 27 Aug

JAY AMBE SUPERMARKETS LIMITED Share Price - Live CITYSQUARE Stock Price & Chart

Upstox, 05 May

Jay Ambe Supermarkets forms US subsidiary City Square Global LLC

scanx.trade, 17 Sept

Jay Ambe Supermarkets incorporates textile subsidiary Kilo Kulture

scanx.trade, 17 Jun

Watch Items

Trading very close to its 52-week low — worth checking whether this reflects a temporary setback or a structural problem.
Cross-check against the company's latest quarterly filing / investor presentation before acting.
RSI is in oversold territory — could mean either a bargain or a stock still falling for good reason. Check the 'why' before assuming reversal.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongGrowth · Profitability · Valuation

MiddlingBusiness Quality · Financial Health

WeakRisk

Points for each in the Score ↑

Attractive on both counts

A good business currently available at an undemanding price — the combination this framework exists to look for. The work left is qualitative: whether the advantage the numbers imply is one you can identify and expect to last. 3 high-severity red flags sit above this conclusion and should be read first.

1 of 5 tripwires tripped — Free cash flow remains positive · see Key things to watch ↑